JP demands special tribunal

WP wants punishment for perpetrators

Staff Correspondent

Jatiya Party and Workers Party of Bangladesh, two key components of the Awami League (AL)-led government, yesterday demanded exemplary punishment for perpetrators behind the abduction and subsequent murder of seven people including Nazrul Islam, panel mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation. "We strongly denounce extrajudicial killings, and want rule of law. No matter how influential the criminals are, they should be brought to justice," said Workers Party lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha at a rally at Bahadur Shah Park in the capital. Society, politics, and the state itself have become insecure due to frequent abductions, extortions, forced disappearances and murders, he said. WP also submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka. Meanwhile, Jatiya Party demanded immediate formation of a “special tribunal” to try the criminals. It also urged the president to call a special session at parliament to discuss the incidents in Narayanganj. Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, general secretary of the party, made the demands at a human chain before the Jatiya Press Club. "Incidents like enforced disappearance, killings cannot go on in a free and civilised country," he said.